Saudi Arabia

30th November 2017

The Trump administration is holding talks on providing nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia — a move that critics say could upend decades of U.S. policy and lead to an arms race in the Middle East. The Saudi government wants nuclear power to free up more oil for export, but current and former American officials suspect the country’s leaders also want to keep up with the enrichment capabilities of their rival, Iran. Saudi Arabia needs approval from the U.S. in order to receive sensitive American technology. Past negotiations broke down because the Saudi government wouldn’t commit to certain safeguards against eventually using the technology for weapons.

French state-controlled utility EDF intends to take part in a tender to build two nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. Saudi Arabia, which wants to reduce domestic oil consumption, is considering building 17.6 gigawatts of nuclear-fuelled power generation capacity by 2032 and has sent a request for information to international suppliers to build two reactors. With answers to the request due by the end 2017 or early 2018, a formal tender could be launched by mid-2018, but more likely toward the end of 2018 or early 2019, industry specialists say.

Real Time Carbon Intensity - GB Electricity

Current CO2347 g/kWh

Real Time Fuel Mix - GB Electricity

News Categories

With over 50 domestic electricity suppliers now listed on our site, maintaining our fuel mix data takes significant time. In addition, we now provide the daily news service, and are working to enhance our real time fuel mix data. If you find the resources on this site useful, please consider making a contribution to the site.

Quick Links

Daily News Service

Sign up for our daily energy and environment news service and get the daily news roundup emailed to you every morning. It’s free to sign up, but if you find the service useful and can afford it, please consider making a donation to help us continue the service.